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CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES.
Term Paper ID:29891
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Essay Subject:
Examines issues of use and abuse with reference to the social theory of Max Weber.... More...
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11 Pages / 2475 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Examines issues of use and abuse with reference to the social theory of Max Weber. Discusses Weberian theory; his principle of rationalization. Behavior patterns and conventions of social enforcement. Social structure and order. Discusses to what extent Weber's theory is useful in explaining controlled substance use. Social values of equality and justice.
Paper Introduction:
The purpose of this research is to examine the issue of controlled-substance use and abuse with reference to the social theory of Max Weber. The plan of the research will be to set forth in general terms Weber's approach to social analysis, and then to see whether and to what extent it is useful in explaining the various phenomena associated with controlled-substance use and abuse, relating not only to users of such substances but also to society more generally.
No examination of Weberian theory would be complete without reference to rationalization (also rationality or rationalism), which refers to a process whereby a society evolves away from a world explained by superstition and emotion toward social organization. It is important to recognize that rationalism is not to be equated with reasonableness and justice as a moral categ
Text of the Paper:
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Those who abusecontrolled substances would be classed as irrational actors by Weber'sanalysis and could be considered social deviants. (1999) citedocumentation of increased drug use by students in grades 8 through 12between 199 and 1999. It is difficult not to characterize substance abuse as a feature ofsocial irrationality within the Weberian meaning of the term. (1999, June). Weber's emphasis on the rational as the highest social expressionseems to contain a trap when irrational but officially sanctioned processesof social control inequitably distribute access to the benefits of law andorder. Lisko(1998) describes efforts to make pregnant women who abuse drugs or alcohol"subject to criminal sanctions," noting that even though "fathers' conduct[] may also adversely affect the unborn child" they are not similarly beingtargeted for prosecution. 5). It is but a short step to the interpenetration of bureaucratic formand a highly structured, highly rationalized system of law enforcement.According to one commentator (Muller, 1991), Weber conceptualized thesocial apparatus in a way consistent with the prevailing custom andpractice of nineteenth-century Prussia, where the judicial systemfunctioned with reference to a significant body of positive law "that wassupposedly free of all partisan taint and that claimed to have liberatedthe law 'from the chains of doctrinaire politics'" (Muller, 1991, p. (1946). M., Diodato, S., & Others. Given the ethnic populationdistribution of the US, it would be impossible to declare that minoritiesin general and minority youth in particular are the primary substanceabusers in the country. 125),and the breadth of Weber's writings on religion, society, and lawreinforces that characterization. Further, Weber argues that a sense of statelegitimacy and authority can only be tested under real-world conditions: All legitimate law rests upon enactment, and all enactment, in turn, rests upon rational agreement. (1991). Half of those used them atleast once a month. Methodical provision is made for the regular and continuous fulfillment of these duties and for the execution of the corresponding rights; only persons who have the generally regulated qualifications to serve are employed [process] (Weber, 1946, p. It is important to note that "irrational" social dynamics do notautomatically make that everything about a rationalized social structuredesirable or just. Where a rational attitude is at work, so is movementtoward an organized and orderly, society whose inhabitants have constructedagreed-upon conventions of enforcement of order. 22 ). This situation ofsystematic order has to do with the shape of social organization and notnecessarily with more informal social comity. Should pregnant women be subject to criminal prosecution for activities that are harmful to their fetuses? (2 2). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. (1998). Retrieved on the World Wide Web 28 February 2 3 at http://www.law.uh.edu/LawCenter/Programs/Health/HLPIHELP/Reproductive/98 623Pregnant.html.Marino, G. Weber acknowledges that underprivileged social actors donot stand equally before the law; instead, the socially privileged are in abetter position to exploit the benefits that bureaucratic socialorganization may confer (Weber, 1946, p. The purpose of this research is to examine the issue of controlled-substance use and abuse with reference to the social theory of Max Weber.The plan of the research will be to set forth in general terms Weber'sapproach to social analysis, and then to see whether and to what extent itis useful in explaining the various phenomena associated with controlled-substance use and abuse, relating not only to users of such substances butalso to society more generally. Max Weber on charisma & institution building. Inother words, even charisma contains seeds of the rationalization process. Weber speaks of the "rational structures of law and ofadministration," as a function of "a calculable legal system and ofadministration in terms of formal rules" (Weber, 1978, p. Naturally, in their eyes justice and administration should serve to compensate for their economic and social life-opportunities in the face of the propertied classes. D. (1997, September). By and large it is a question of equality before the law.He cites tension between equality before the law and social differencesbased on connections between the bureaucratic apparatus of society andrelative privileges of various groups, making the point that the moretenuous the connection, the more likely the status of the individual orgroup involved is underprivileged (Weber, "Bureaucracy," 1946, p. Weber deals with this issue somewhat when referring to the differencebetween formal, rational, "objective" administration of society's laws andpersonal "discretion flowing form the 'grace' of the old patrimonialdomination [social authority]." He continues: The propertyless masses especially are not served by a formal "equality before the law" and a "calculable" adjudication and administration, as demanded by "bourgeois" interests. Theassertion of a state interest in controlling access to certain substancesmay be necessary but not sufficient to legitimating the state's war ondrugs. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 153, 591-96.Lisko, E.A. Some drugs prescribed to decrease pain or encouragehealing also have euphoric effects (Janiri, et al., 1991). (1998, June). New York: Oxford University Press. American Behavioral Scientist, 41, 64-89.Gerth, H.H., & Mills, C. (1999, p. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Shaw, V.N. Hitler's justice: the courts of the third reich. Although a lot of the impact of drug use is felt by minoritydefendants who are poor, drug dependency is by no means confined to theunderclass. In that regard, Shawcharacterizes Weber as a theorist of social control (Shaw, 2 2, p. & Ling, W. The sense of legitimacy can be even further reinforced by therallying force of a leader whose charisma inspires allegiance and validatesauthority in the social structure. R. 331). Onsuch issues with legal consequences as the use and abuse of controlledsubstances, divisions between what is rational and irrational appear on thequestion of whether it is rational to incarcerate drug user A, whosebehavior has been exposed, while "treating" drug user B, whose behavior andeconomic position conceal the drug use. 224). (1978). (1991, March). The issue of unequal access is bound to surface repeatedly in asociety theoretically organized around the idea of coherence but inpractice benefiting members of the society in markedly unequal ways.Obviously, various interest groups would consider opponents' views on agiven issue irrational and their own views rational. H.H. The inhabitants of such a social structure are obliged to lookto their own devices to achieve "brotherliness" (Weber, 1946, p. Eisenstadt (Ed.). This is explained by Gerthand Mills: The principle of rationalization is the most general element in Weber's philosophy of history. A new brief screen for adolescent substance abuse. Furthermore,Weber is aware that the coherent, bureaucratically articulated society ofthe ideal type that he describes is different from "historical realities,which almost always appear in mixed forms" (1946, p. Additionalevidence of the faultiness of perception about substance abuse being aproblem confined to minority populations is found in statistics: In 1996,some 26 million Americans used illegal drugs. Weber's idea of society as an ordered structure is relevant to theissue of substance abuse because the state has declared an interest incontrolling the availability of drugs and alcohol. In thinking of the change of human attitudes and mentalities that this process occasions, Weber liked to quote Friedrich Schiller's phrase, the "disenchantment of the world." The extent and direction of "rationalization" is thus measured negatively in terms of the degree to which magical elements of thought are displaced, or positively by the extent to which ideas gain in systematic coherence and naturalistic consistency (Gerth & Mills, 1946, p. 221). If equality and justice are to beconsidered social values or indices of social coherence, then, ironicallyenough, the bureaucracy may from time to time be forced to yield to theincomprehensible and informal. For the rise and fall of institutional structures, the ups and downs of classes, parties, and rulers implement the general drift of secular rationalization. The idea of agreement is formulated as "freedom of contract," or "oneof the universal formal principles of natural law construction, either asassumed real historical basis of all rational consociations including thestate, or, at least, as the regulative standard of evaluation" (Weber,1978, p. Zipeprol is a newly abused antitussive with an opioid spectrum and hallucinogenic effects. Opposition to rationally evolved bureaucratic structures is, forWeber, an exercise in irrationality, even though (or exactly because) alegal system is "fused with the canonization of the abstract and'objective' idea of 'reasons of state'" (p. 224). Meanwhile, betweenone-fourth and two-fifths of all hospital inpatients are related tosubstance abuse in some way, as well as up to 16% of general-medicineoutpatients (Weaver, et al., 1999). Further,the mission is not permanently self-justifying but inevitably becomestransformed into either rational or traditional authority, and "the purelypersonal character of leadership is eliminated" (Weber, 1978, p. Schneider (Trans.). Bothinner-city and suburban children are beginning to drink at younger ages;binge drinking has been linked to 32% of all high school students. He also notes the connectionbetween oppressive economic conditions and the tendency toward what appearsto be an idea of sociopolitical democratic activity on the part of theoppressed. Mills (Eds.). Alcohol use figures are even more dramatic. In the drug culture. Across demographic lines, adolescents appear to beexperimenting with mind-altering substances: cocaine, heroin, crack, PCP,glue, designer drugs (e.g., E, or Ecstasy), Rohypnol (date-rape drug),marijuana, hashish, amphetamines (Wesson & Ling, 1996; Fox & Miller, 1997). However, when one startslooking at the specifics of drug use and abuse, it becomes clear thatissues of equality before the law and adequate access to the bureaucraticapparatus assume a good deal of force. (1996, 19 June). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Wesson, D. Nevertheless, Weber forms apicture of bureaucracy as the rational, impersonal agent of administrativecoherence, particularly in the context of the modern capitalist socialstructure. 99). Throughout all of Weber's work, however, the issue of rationalizationreceives treatment. But some members of society are more carefullyscrutinized and controlled than others where drug use is at issue. ReferencesClarke, K. The selective rather than completely equitable application of drug-related laws calls into question whether Weber's social theory can given anadequate rationale for how such laws function in the project of achievingcoherence and order. US Catholic, 63, 1 -17.Fox, C. Depreciating public policy discourse. 913) explain: "Patients withsubstance abuse problems are common in general medical practice and includepeople of all ages and socioeconomic groups." Primary-care doctors areoften called upon to refer patients to substance-abuse treatment, whichenables them to escape the wrath of the law-enforcement system. But theirsocial status means they are less likely than a street pusher to beincarcerated. The regular activities required for the purposes of the bureaucratically governed structure are distributed in a fixed way as official duties [form or structure]. No examination of Weberian theory would be complete without referenceto rationalization (also rationality or rationalism), which refers to aprocess whereby a society evolves away from a world explained bysuperstition and emotion toward social organization. Journal of the American Medical Association, 275, 1792-3. In discussing the legitimacy of the stateapparatus, Weber focuses on the practical ability to arrive at an orderedsense of such principles as individual rights and a shared sense of"rightness" or legitimacy of the covenants under which human beingsassociate with one another. Weber's focus on society as a coherent order does not prevent him fromrecognizing that coherence by itself is not enough to account for theimpact of the order on the people involved in it. (1997, January 1). Thebureaucratic apparatus is positioned to intervene in drug-related behaviorby punishment or by treatment, but in either case the objective would be toexercise social control and to impose the norms of the coherent socialorder on the violator of its rational structures. In a bureaucracy, says Weber: 1. Christian Century, 114, 5-6.Muller, I. 55). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. America behind bars. L. What Weber would call access to bureaucratic structures preventsmiddle-class addictions from coming under the scrutiny of bureaucraticenforcement that is suffered by the underclass. T He says that "under the conditions ofmass democracy, public opinion is communal conduct born of irrational'sentiments'" (1946, p. Bureaucracy. 25), and of "asystem of rights legitimately acquired by purposive contract (Weber, 1978,p. 22 -1). 2. Even Weber warns against abureaucracy that is too rigid because it can threaten social comity,personal freedom, and individual development. 196). (1946). W. Some patientsseek prescriptions for tranquilizers as a way of altering consciousness bylegal means, while avoiding the "drug culture" stigma attached toadolescents, especially if they are members of minority groups (Marino,1997, p. An estimated 7 % of all prison incarcerations are for nonviolentoffenses, and of those, an estimated 3 % are related to illegal drug use(Clarke, 1998). 51). 244). Weber interprets structure and order as the result of successive,systematic applications of processes of rationalization and a shared desirefor and experience of community order and stability that enableintellectual and economic interaction. New York: Oxford University Press. Indeed, there is widespread advocacy of harsh penalties fordrug users, abusers, and dealers not least because of the popular image ofsuch people as belonging exclusively to the lower social strata. It is important torecognize that rationalism is not to be equated with reasonableness andjustice as a moral category, but rather is to be "measured negatively interms of the degree to which magical elements of thought are displaced, orpositively by the extent to which ideas gain in systematic coherence andnaturalistic consistency" (Gerth and Mills, 1946, p. Weber interprets the legitimateauthority of the charismatic leader, not as the prerogative of power but as"the duty of those who have been called to a charismatic mission torecognize its quality and act accordingly" (Weber, 1978, p. The challenge for the bureaucracy,then, is how to get the users and dealers who are upsetting the rationalsocial order to instead conform to it. T. (1999, May 1 ). 99). Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 27, 121-125.Knight, J.R., Shrier, L.A., Bravender, T.D., Farrell, M., Bilt, J.V., & Shaffer, H.J. But they are the ones who bear the label of socialdeviance and who disproportionately bear the punishments associated withcriminalization of certain drugs. (1999), prescription-drug abusers, like theirillegal-substance counterparts, may exhibit symptoms of addiction in theirrelationship with their doctor--requesting more frequently filledprescriptions or new prescriptions for supposedly "lost" ones, or gettingprescriptions from more than one physician and/or pharmacy. 45-74.Janiri, L., Mannelli, P., Persico, A. An even more compelling feature of the war on drugs, fromthe standpoint of access to the bureaucratic apparatus, is that drug crimeis widely perceived in racial terms. Abusers of a drug such as Valium may not consider themselvespart of the drug culture (Burton & Brown, 1997), but their behavior isevery bit as deviant and irrational as the stereotypical heroin user.According to Weaver, et al. And he makes reference to the "leveling of the governed,"although he does so in the context of "opposition to the ruling andbureaucratically articulated group" (Weber, 1946, p. Inevitably, therefore, issuesof authority and enforcement of order also arise. It also exposes ascontradictory--and therefore irrational--a social-control option that issupposedly the outcome of an increasingly rationalized, increasinglycoherent set of operations. As Weaver, et al. 226). Role of the primary care physician in problems of substance abuse. But the notion ofimposing social controls sounds more straightforward than it actually is.While most drug-abuse headlines in recent years appear to have been devotedto describing addiction, dependency, and/or sales of such drugs as cocaineand heroin, the fact is that unhealthy dependence on legal substances isalso an issue front. 49). S.N. If any single attribute of the substance-abuse phenomenon has shiftedin recent years, it is the evidence that abuse and its various "sequelae"appear to be starting at an ever-earlier age, whether the individualsinvolved come from poverty or affluence. Knight, et al. Gerth & C.W. Addiction medicine. That is where hisconception of social differences and the rationale for social changebecomes relevant. 99). Some groups might welldare to characterize the social order itself as irrational; furthermore,they might organize around a charismatic figure who can elicit loyalty andcommitment from "propertyless masses" for significant social change. The authority to give the commands required for the discharge of these duties is distributed in a stable way and is strictly delimited by rules concerning the coercive means, physical, sacerdotal, or otherwise, which may be placed at the disposal of officials. J., & Miller, H. 3. Coherence and consistency in social structure and behavior patternspoint in the direction of conventions of social enforcement, hence, to thenature of the state apparatus. D. The phrase war on drugscaptures the state's interest in controlling access to certain substances,whether by legislating the proper age at which individuals may use certainsubstances (as in the case of alcohol) or by altogether criminalizingsubstance use (as in the case of marijuana, cocaine, etc.). Such structure and order are mostobvious, of course, in the bureaucracies of which society is composed.Bureaucracy, which is also an important concept in Weber's social theory,is defined according to rationalized form or structure, authority, andprocess of systemic behavior. Justice and administration can fulfill this function only if they assume an informal character to a far-reaching extent (Weber, 1946, p. To the degree it is characterized as a"black" or "brown" problem, it fosters "vibrant support for increasinglypunitive sentencing policies and program reductions inside of prisons." Tothe degree it is considered a problem of youth, the war on drugs becomes awar on youth, in particular minority youth, who are perceived to be thegreatest users and dealers of drugs. Intellectual orientations. This agreement is either, first, real, i.e., derived from an actual original contract of free individuals, which also regulates the form in which new law is to be enacted in the future; or, second, ideal, in the sense that only that law is legitimate whose content does not contradict the conception of a reasonable order enacted by free agreement (Weber, 1978, p. 51). Morethan 15% of students in a survey admit to driving after drinking, and morethan 38% of those in grades 9 through 12 admit to have ridden with adrinking driver. About 5.5 million are so severely affected by drugsthat they need clinical treatment (Fox & Miller, 1997). 196-242.Weber, M. Archives of Internal Medicine, 159, 913-24.Weber, M. Further, one must question whether a practice ofenforcing social controls that has been exposed as irrational inapplication, because unequally applied, can be defended as legitimate. Substance use and abuse: Sociological perspectives. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.Weaver, M.F., Jarvis, M.A.E., & Schnoll, S.H. 8).Muller adds that German legal positivism was not as value-free as wassupposed, and he cites the wedge that Nazi police-statism ultimately madefor itself within the German legal system. The irrational labelsticks, however democratic or socially beneficial challenges to thebureaucratic structures may be.
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